Signs That You Are Making Progress In Japanese

Learning Japanese is not easy and you can feel like you are struggling for a very long time, but if you actually stop and look, you are probably making progress.

Sometimes the progress may be small, but that doesn’t matter, you are still learning and you still know more than you did before.

It is important to look out for signs of progress as it can keep you motivated and keep you from giving up when things get tough, so let’s look at some signs you might see.

Things Will Kind Of Click And Fall Into Place

The first sign that you are making progress in Japanese is that things will click.

This can really be seen on a scale and really goes from the smallest of things, to the much larger concepts. Even on your first day you will have had some sort of information give to you, and it sort of fall into place and make sense. This might be as simple as being able to tell hiragana apart from katakana, but you will have that “Ahhh Ha” type moment.

Really you can some this up as …do you understand what is being taught …and even if it small, having this happen day after day really starts to add up.

You may also find that you do study a topic and it just makes no sense …however, at some point, it will. It might not be today, but at point that information will actually make sense, something will just click and you will realise how it all works or links to something else. Often this is an instant realisation, but sometimes it can sort of be like the lifting of fog and things become clearer.

Either way you will notice that more things just start to make sense and this is a good feeling.

You Can Actually Read Japanese

Another good sign of prgress is noticing that you can read in Japanese.

I remember before I started learning Japanese and the writing just looked crazy to me. I’d look at those neon signs and just think how it all seemed so impossible …but it’s not.

The first time I seen a simple word, maybe it was only 2 or 3 hiragana letters, something like すし …and I could read it, it was amazing. It’s not exactly that impressive, but it is. I went from everything look like a random lines and squiggles to something I could actually read.

Of course this skill will progress differently over time, first you go from being able to piece a few letters together to read a single word, all the way to actually being able to read fairly normally like you can in your native language.

Each step along the way is progress, and it can be good to just notice your current level and look at how far you have come, most likely from complete zero like I did.  

You Can Recognise Kanji

You will really know you are making progress when you can actually recognise kanji. This will start by just being able to recognise them. Let’s say you see –  何, you will look at it and say “oh that means…what, I think” .

As you progress you will see 何, and just read it like it is a normal word, you will look at that and say “nani” and you won’t even need to tell yourself “this means what” you will just know it means that automatically.

This may start off with a few easy kanji, and this is still progress, but slowly the number you can recognise like this will build up and soon you will be able to just look at any text and read it with no problems.

Particles Make Sense

Japanese sentence particles are very important, but also very different to anything we have in English and they can take a while to understand.

We can all read about them and walk away saying “this makes sense” but when we actually hear the particles in a sentence, they can throw us off.

You will start to notice you become more comfortable with them the more you see and hear them. Take か for example, it’s easy to understand it is the equivalent of a question mark, but it will still take us a while to fully accept this.

For a while we will kind of have to stop and explain what the かparticle means to ourselves and then change the sentence in our mind from a statement, to a question.  

This is one of the easier particles to master, but the rest will follow with practice and this is all a sign that you are making progress.   

You Can Hear Words When Listening

When you first start listening to Japanese, it can seem like noise. It can be so hard to pick out anything but you will get to the point where you can identify words.

It is quite a strange experience the first time it happens, you will just hear a load of noise, then out of nowhere, you will hear a full word, clear as day. Even if you don’t know the meaning, it doesn’t matter; your brain was able to identify a word.

This will slowly turn from one word into phrases and even full sentences. You will notice that the language changes from noise, to an actual language.  

You Can Understand What You Hear

While being able to hear the words is a good start, actually understanding them is the next step of progress.

This will kind of follow the same pattern, you will notice one or two words that you actually understand and over time this will increase to whole phrases or sentences and you will slowly be able to sort of roughly understand what you are hearing and it will become easier and easier over time.

Being able to hear the different words and also understand some of them kind of happens at the same time. It really depends on the words you have learned so some words may just be ones you can hear, others you might recognise and some you will actually understand.

This is why things seem so hazy for a while. You understand some things, can’t hear other things and it’s just a generally confusing feeling.  It can be hard to assess how much you actually understand compared to how much you do not.

This is why it is so hard to notice you are making progress at times, but keep pushing forward, you will be slowly getting better.

The Respectful Language Makes Sense

You can almost see Japanese as having two languages within itself, the casual and the polite. Of course there are a few different levels to this, and it does feel like a real minefield at the start.

You will start to notice you that you can differentiate between these styles of speaking and maybe even be able to say what the alternative version would be.

The whole concept of formal and informal is a tricky one for us as learners, this is probably not helped by the fact that we are usually just taught the formal version of things, while not actually having it explained to us that this is happening …so if you are able to actually notice the difference, you are clearly making progress in the language.

You feel Like You Can Speak

One of the signs that you are actually progressing quite far in the language is when you reach the point where you feel like you want to speak.

If you are doing a lot of immersion like I do, you will firstly notice that you can understand things, which is of course a huge sign of progress, but after this, you will start to actually feel comfortable with trying to speak.

It will still be difficult and a little stressful, but at the same time, you will think that you can actually give it a go and even if you are awful …you are trying and that is a huge sign that you have made a lot of progress and you can only get stronger from here.    

Someone Tells You “Nihongo Jouzu”

If you do go to Japan and try and communicate with someone, you will know you have made progress with your studies when someone says “Nihongo Jouzu” which means “your Japanese is great”.

This is the ultimate sign that you have made progress …or maybe it’s not.

While this is nice to hear and can make you feel good, the reality is that Japanese people are too kind and you can’t measure your progress based off their feedback.

You could just say “Konnichiwa” …badly and they will still probably tell you that your Japanese is amazing.

I wouldn’t see this as them lying, id see it more as they are being polite and trying to encourage you, even if you are not that good at the moment. You will know if you Japanese is actually good when they get very confused about the fact that it is good.

Progress Will Be Slow

I think it is important to remember that progress will be slow. You are not going to see huge gains overnight, and you can easily be fooled into thinking you are not getting anywhere.

Sometimes you may stagnate and actually plateau, but even then, if you keep going you will still be making progress on some level.

The slow pace can be annoying and it can knock your confidence, so it is important to try and look out for the small signs I have mentioned above, they are all signs that you are moving forward and so long as you keep going, this can only compound and soon your progress will be pretty clear.

It can also be helpful to just remind yourself where you have come from. Starting from zero and reaching the point you are at now, is still progress, so be proud, even if you still think you have further to go.

(You can read more about – How Long Will It Take To Learn Japanese?)

Conclusion

Hopefully now you can spot the areas where you have made progress with your Japanese. Keep being consistent and the results will slowly come.

Learning Japanese is a slow game, but you will make progress and you will reach your goals and hopefully you can realise that this is happening along the way.

(If you are looking to learn Japanese, you can follow my plan –  Learn Japanese – The Plan For A Complete Beginner)